It seems to be that one of the facts about the great depression is that the depression was caused by greed and fear. This is just plain wrong. People seem to think that capitalism is what caused the depression and that is not really correct.

Like the 2008 financial crisis the 1929 great depression shows just how bad too much government regulation in the economic sector really is.

The federal reserve was officially created in 1913 and their first order of business would be to lower interest rates and to make lending easier to get. With all the easy money around people started borrowing it and putting it into things like real estate investments, businesses, and especially stocks.

People where making a killing by borrowing money at low interest rates. Yet at the same time inflation was starting to take off. The federal reserve had noticed that their strategy of trying to make money easier to get was starting to have negative effects on the economy so they decided to increase the interest rates to make the loans harder to get.

However the economy was already widely dependent on “easy money” so when the Federal Reserve stopped it the economy collapsed. The people who saw what was going on started panicking and that caused more panic. This is the real story behind what caused the great depression.

It isn’t a story of how capitalism failed, but rather a story of how the government trying to control the economy failed. There are already plenty of examples of how that doesn’t work as it is. To make capitalism work you’ve got to let it be. To cause a depression you’ve got to interfere with things.

Everybody wants to become a millionaire in their lifetime. What people don’t realize is that you can! Anybody can become a millionaire, but it is going to take time and effort on your part.

So, how do you go from where you are now to becoming a millionaire? Well there are three critical steps that you must follow. Just by following these steps you are setting yourself up on the right path for financial success.

Save Money

Everyone has heard about the importance of saving money, but yet we all spend money and wind up regretting it later on. But if you ever want to get ahead financially, saving your money and spending less money on pointless stuff is the first step.

In fact if you have ever read the millionaire next door you will find that most millionaires are cheap. They simply do not spend money. Warren Buffet who was once the richest man on the world lives off of $100,000 a year, far below his means.

You do not have to be “cheap” once you become a millionaire, but it will help you to get there.

Look For Other Ways to Make Money

Very few millionaires got that way through their job. If you want to become truly wealthy then you are going to have to look for extra income sources outside of work. The vast majority of millionaires are business owners.

Businesses have an unlimited profit potential. If you own a business you are no longer limited to the number of hours in the day. You no longer get paid by the hour, but by the customers and it is easier to find more customers then it is to find more hours in the day.

There are good parts and bad parts to owning a business. It means that you could only be paid $10 for 20 hours of work, but it also means that you could be paid $100,000 for the same amount of work. But as your business grows however it has more potential, provided it was on solid grown when it started.

Build a strong long term business and you will be surprised at what it brings you.

Invest Money

Of course if you do have a business and a job it is going to make it easier to save up your money. But if you just put that money in the bank you are fighting against inflation.

That is why most millionaires will invest their money into stocks, real estate, or something else with decent long term potential.

Becoming a millionaire is a slow process that takes years or even decades to achieve. There is no such thing as a get rich quick scheme that works. But if you do your work at it and follow these steps it is very possible to achieve your goals after a few years.